A long-planned makeover of the aging Town and Country hotel in Mission Valley, which was supposed to get underway last year, has been delayed yet again.

Development plans for the $70 million project on Hotel Circle North were scheduled to be heard Tuesday by the San Diego City Council, but for the third time in five months, the developer asked for a continuance.

The council, with no discussion, agreed to continue the matter to March 20.

In an interview earlier in the day,Todd Majcher, vice president of resort development and design for Lowe Enterprises, which is teaming with AECOM Capital on the project, offered little explanation for the requested postponement. He would only say there are still outstanding issues with the city to be worked out.

City development services officials, however, say they have no unresolved issues with the project.

"Staff has not identified any new issues on this project,” city of San Diego spokesman Paul Brencick Sr. said. “The project has been ready since September 2017 (with no changes). The delay for hearing is the applicant's request and they are asking City Council for the continuances. Per the staff report dated September 1, 2017 and report to the Planning Commission outlining the project, staff is not requesting any changes."

Significant environmental concerns, however, were raised last September by the local Unite Here hotel workers union.

In a letter sent last month to the City Council and Mayor Kevin Faulconer, attorneys for the union criticized the project on multiple levels, saying the environmental analysis fell short of what is required.

"This project is an overwhelming net negative – it fails to provide a single affordable housing unit, constructs 840 residential units in a flood hazard area without an evacuation plan in place, worsens the already severe traffic problem in the Mission Valley corridor, jeopardizes hotel jobs and the tax base for the Transient Occupancy Tax and fails to protect sensitive species in the multi habitat planning area within the project footprint, " the attorneys wrote.

Rick Bates, an organizer for Unite Here Local 30, said he did not have any additional comments to make.

However, Carol Kim, political director of the San Diego County Building and Construction Trades Council, said she remains concerned about the lack of any affordable housing in a development that is conveniently located near a trolley stop.

“I know people who live as far out as Rancho Penasquitios and Rancho Bernardo and they take the bus to work in Fashion Valley, so can you imagine if there were affordable housing opportunities here?” Kim said. “So we want to see affordable housing on site and a good amount of that, so I'm hoping they're trying to do that.”

Rather than providing housing onsite, the developers have agreed to pay an “in-lieu” affordable housing fee, Brencick said.

Lowe and Aecom have re-imagined the resort and convention center as three distinct districts: a 17-acre hotel area, 10 acres for the housing and a 12-acre river park district.

Under the redevelopment scheme, the hotel’s 954 rooms would be reduced to 700, conference space would be downsized as well, and four new residential towers, including parking, would be built. Plans for the nearly 40-acre site also call for restoration of the San Diego River open space habitat and development of a new passive public park.

When the plans were first unveiled in 2015, the developers had hoped the redeveloped resort would be completed by this year.

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San Diego has agreed to sell 16 lots in Nestor for $1 each, in the pursuit of affordable housing. The nonprofit San Diego Community Land Trust plans to build three and four-bedroom homes there for people with moderate incomes. That means a family of five with an income of up to $102,750.

San Diego has agreed to sell 16 lots in Nestor for $1 each, in the pursuit of affordable housing. The nonprofit San Diego Community Land Trust plans to build three and four-bedroom homes there for people with moderate incomes. That means a family of five with an income of up to $102,750.

CAPTION

San Diego has agreed to sell 16 lots in Nestor for $1 each, in the pursuit of affordable housing. The nonprofit San Diego Community Land Trust plans to build three and four-bedroom homes there for people with moderate incomes. That means a family of five with an income of up to $102,750.

San Diego has agreed to sell 16 lots in Nestor for $1 each, in the pursuit of affordable housing. The nonprofit San Diego Community Land Trust plans to build three and four-bedroom homes there for people with moderate incomes. That means a family of five with an income of up to $102,750.

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